Laser Gun

[Chuck Vezzetti]

I know that this is a million miles from engraving but I thought that you might be interested in seeing this hand held laser gun. It is designed to cut steel and blow off the top layer of concrete

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/WR-Laser_gun_makes_the_cut_in_decommissioning-0410134.html

Chuck Vezzetti

[Mike Troncalli]

Hello my darlin, hello my baby, hello my rag time doll..

[Keith Outten]

I watched the video and it seems to me that a plasma cutter would do everything that had to be done in that particular situation and it would be cheaper and safer. I can't imagine having to hold that laser gun in my arms all day long. Last but not least the slag from all that cutting becomes very small metal pieces that are contaminated and expensive to clean up but there would still be slag to cleanup using plasma.

I thought that nuclear power plants were decommissioned in place , except for the fuel removal, which is less hazardous to the environment.

Its a very cool laser gun though :)
.

[Bill Cunningham]

Hello my darlin, hello my baby, hello my rag time doll..

Ahh I can see the dancing frog now!!

[Bruce Page]

What's the big deal? Maxwell Smart was using one back in the 60's.

[Isaac Clarke]

I watched the video and it seems to me that a plasma cutter would do everything that had to be done in that particular situation and it would be cheaper and safer. I can't imagine having to hold that laser gun in my arms all day long. Last but not least the slag from all that cutting becomes very small metal pieces that are contaminated and expensive to clean up but there would still be slag to cleanup using plasma.

I thought that nuclear power plants were decommissioned in place , except for the fuel removal, which is less hazardous to the environment.

Its a very cool laser gun though :)
.

But wouldn't a plasma require a good compressor too?

[Keith Outten]

Plasma does require a compressor but all power plants I have ever been to have compressed air systems running all over the plant. They install the air systems during the construction phase and they generally have more air capacity than you would even need during operation unless you were doing major maintenance. There are often systems and components that use air to operate valves, etc.

My Miller 625 will cut any electrically conductive metal up to 5/8" thick as fast as the laser does in the video. And it would be easier on the budget to throw away a plasma machine when your done as the tools and machines get contaminated they can't be removed from the area or have to be disposed of as radioactive waste. We designed and built the first freon decontamination cabinet at Surry power Station many years ago that worked pretty good for both hand tools and electrical power tools but you can never get the contamination level back to zero. Given how people feel about freon these days I doubt you could use a freon decontamination system ever again.
.